


Three Nights

by shiptoomuch



Series: Prompted [10]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe: Fairytale, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 06:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11202339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/pseuds/shiptoomuch
Summary: “I think we should throw a ball,” She suggests to her husband one night as they are preparing for bed. Richard looks at her and raises an eyebrow, a cue to go on from the softspoken man. “We can invite all of the eligible young suitors to it, and allow Eric to have his pick from the fine young men. Perhaps then he will agree to a marriage.”When she proposes this to Eric, he agrees to it, saying that he does not care what his husband will look like, that he will marry whichever young man shall dance with him and not fall, shall speak with him and know him well, and who shall present him with a gift that can never be tarnished or broken.





	Three Nights

**Author's Note:**

> A thank you for gutsybitsies on tumblr, for more info on that, check out this link:  
> http://fabbittle.tumblr.com/post/161778622806/fabbittle-anyone-who-wants-a-fic-written-for

Once upon a time, in magical land very few have heard of, and whose name you likely couldn’t pronounce, a young prince was losing his shit. 

“Lardo, this is the end of the world! What am I going to do?”

“Well you could have just said no, Bits.”

Bitty flops onto the bed and sighs dramatically. “I know, but it only would have made things worse. My parents would have killed me.”

This young prince, Prince Eric to his subject and Bitty to his friends, was having a crisis. A suitor he had spent the better part of the last five months trying to rebuff had proposed. Eric had responded to this proposal by doing what he deemed at the time a completely reasonable reaction: running away from Lord Chad as quickly as possible.

It had been very effective method for escaping the proposal, but now Prince Eric is laying in his bedchambers with his handmaid Larissa (Lardo, to her friends), and avoiding his parents. A task which is proving quite difficult due to the fact that they are the king and queen. 

“You are the crown prince, Bits,” Lardo says with her usual air of no-nonsense. She’s been by Bitty’s side since they were children, when she was just being trained as a handmaiden. Now, they are grown and she is the only one who can make him see reason when he has his fits of drama. “You will have to get married someday. You know that’s what is expected of you.”

“Yes, I know, but must it be Chad? He is absolutely the _worst_ and I’m fairly certain he’s not even interested in princes, just titles.”

“I know. You could always marry Shitty. He wouldn’t expect anything of you as a husband, and you could get new skates to your heart’s content,” Lardo suggests with a sly smile. “And I wouldn’t mind it horribly.”

Shitty, Prince Bernard to his people, was a prince of the neighboring land, not set to inherit any throne. His older sister would be queen of their kingdom someday, and Shitty was left to travel and be diplomatic, to find a match in an heir somewhere else. Much to his parents’ dismay, he had found a match in Bitty’s handmaiden, and spent far more time in their kingdom than necessary. 

“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean by that skate comment,” Bitty says airily, though he knows exactly what she is getting at. 

“You know exactly what I mean,” Lardo responds with her hands on her hips. “Now come, I noticed a tear in your skates the other day, and we absolutely must get that fixed posthaste.”

Prince Eric had been skating from a very young age, and was a renowned and celebrated figure skater before he had retired to focus on business of the kingdom. Still, he skated in the castle’s outdoor rink (which had been enchanted to stay frozen all year long) quite often, and as such, often had to visit Zimmermann’s Skate Shop in the village near the castle. Bob Zimmermann made the finest ice skates in the land, and as such, Eric would accept no less than skates made by his hands.

Or the hands of Bob’s son, Jack. Jack, who is Bob’s apprentice alongside his friends Ransom and Holster, who skated like a dream and has eyes like the ice which he loved so much. Jack, who knows exactly what Bitty expects from a pair of skates and never fails to get the fit exactly right. Jack, who is the reason why Bitty comes to the shop personal so often, and who fixes all of Bitty’s requests with a soft smile and sad eyes.

Jack, who Eric steals secret moments with while Lardo covers for them. The one true love of Eric’s life, who he’ll never be allowed to marry for the simple reason that he is a commoner, and being such, has been deemed unworthy for Eric’s hand. 

Jack smiles when Lardo and Bitty enter the shop. The lone customer at the till sees Prince Eric and mutters apologies while she hurriedly pays and leaves the shop. Jack locks the door behind her, as is customary for a royal visit. 

Once the shades are drawn, Eric crosses the room to him and lets himself be pulled into Jack’s embrace. He rests his head on the skate maker’s chest and sighs happily. “Oh, sweetpea, I’ve missed you so much.”

Jack presses a kiss to the top of Bitty’s head and smiles into his hair. “I have missed you too, my love. I have not stopped thinking of you since the last time I held you. I live embrace to embrace, waiting for your return.” 

And it is true, Jack spends every almost every moment of every day thinking of his love for Eric, and in his few free moments works on a gift he is crafting for his love: the finest pair of skates in all of the land, with leather that is white as snow, eyelets of gold, and blades which will stay sharp for as long as Bitty lives and loves him. They have been enchanted by Holster, who practices magic and is one of the few people in the world who knows of Jack’s love for Eric. Jack hopes that when he is finished with them, he will use them to ask Eric what he has been longing to since the moment he met him. 

Lardo clears her throat to remind the two lovers that she is still in the room, and smiles when they turn to her with bright red faces. Even embarrassed, though, they are still completely caught up in each other. Eric presses himself into Jack’s side, and Jack rubs circles with his thumb on his arm. It is picturesque and makes her heart ache, for their love is certainly hopeless. 

Eric is soon to be married, whether to Chad or not, it is required of him, lest his cousin take the throne. 

“I will be in the back room. I asked Holster to work on some new protection charms for me, and I need to see how it’s coming along.”

Jack and Eric do not respond to her, simply turning once again to each other and smiling at the sight of their love. Jack kisses Eric’s lips and swears he feels sparks of magic every time their lips brush, though neither of them possesses the gift to practice such things. 

In Bitty’s eyes, Jack is a knight, hero, and Prince, though he holds no titles. He is the hero in every one of Eric’s imaginings, and in the most secret parts of his heart, he wishes nothing more than to run away with him and live together in a cottage with a large garden and warm kitchen in which Bitty will bake pies for them and build a space for them to share their love. If Jack were to ask, he could never refuse him, but Bitty knows that Jack never will ask. He respects Eric’s duties far too much to do any such thing. 

“Lord Chad asked for my hand,” Bitty confesses to Jack, tears springing to his eyes as soon as the words leave his mouth. 

Jack wipes the tears from his cheek, heart aching at the sight of his love hurting. “That will make your parents quite happy, I am sure.”

“I ran away from him,” Eric says softly, ashamed of his immaturity. He is twenty-one years old and should be able to control himself as an adult. “I could never break your heart by marrying him.”

“My love, I know what your duties are. You hold my heart in your pretty little hands, but it will not be broken by something that I know you are required to do. My love for you will not end because your parents have arranged a political marriage for you.”

Jack is speaking the truth. He knows that Bitty loves no one but him, knows that any marriage Eric may be forced into has nothing to do with their love, as much as it may sting him to see his love in the arms of another. It is his secret wish to steal Bitty away, but the prince is the eldest in his family, and the only direct heir to the throne. His parents would surely be disappointed if he were to leave, and Bitty cares so much about his people that surely, he never would. Still, Jack works on the enchanted skates in hopes that when he presents them to Prince Eric, he will say that he loves no one else but Jack, and wishes nothing more than to marry him. 

Still, if he does not, Jack will stand by his side, if only in private, and love Eric until both of them die, and beyond even that. 

“I would break my own heart by marrying him.” Bitty leans up to kiss Jack once more. “I wish only to marry for love, or not at all.”

“You know that isn’t possible, unless you stop loving me.”

“I could never do that.”

_X_

Despite all of their demands and rules, King Richard and Queen Suzanne were loving parents who wanted only happiness for their son. But for all that they wanted their son to be happy, they knew that the needs of their kingdom must come before the wishes of their child.

Eric must soon be married, as was the tradition of their kingdom for a ruler to be married before taking the throne. Married to a royal who would strengthen the diplomatic relations in the land. 

Alas, of every match that they have tried to make, despite his good nature and open heart, not a single one of them has been successful. They had had such high hopes for Lord Chad’s proposal, but it seems that it is not to be, that they will not be throwing a wedding for their beloved heir any time soon. 

Suzanne suspects that her son’s heart is already held captive by someone, though she does not know who that someone might be. He spends hours away from the castle, though, and always comes back singing and with a smile on his face. He never does come back from meeting any suitors in such a way. 

Were she a stricter queen, she might have already arranged a marriage for Eric, and forced him to go through with it for the good of the kingdom, but Suzanne has never been able to bear the sight of her only child crying. 

Still, she wishes to find out which young suitor has captured her young son’s heart, that she might throw them the wedding she has been planning since Eric’s birth. 

“I think we should throw a ball,” She suggests to her husband one night as they are preparing for bed. Richard looks at her and raises an eyebrow, a cue to go on from the softspoken man. “We can invite all of the eligible young suitors to it, and allow Eric to have his pick from the fine young men. Perhaps then he will agree to a marriage.”

When she proposes this to Eric, he agrees to it, saying that he does not care what his husband will look like, that he will marry whichever young man shall dance with him and not fall, shall speak with him and know him well, and who shall present him with a gift that can never be tarnished or broken.

Despite her sons odd demands, Suzanne is quite pleased with his agreement to the arrangement. They will have a masked ball that shall last for three nights, and every eligible young man from the surrounding areas will come to woo her son, and hopefully take his hand in marriage, to rule by his side as fair and just leaders. 

Eric, however, returns to his chambers with a great sadness in his heart. Though he might find someone with whom he can live happily at this ball, he knows that Jack cannot be that man. There is not a chance of him being even invited into the castle to attend the event. The young prince’s parents will surely not find him a suitable match for their son. 

There are rulers who are married to royals and have companions on the side, he knows. It is entirely common and almost acceptable to have such a lover, but Eric has only ever been able to imagine himself being married for love, and knows that marrying a man other than Jack will tear his heart neatly in two. 

The first night of the ball comes and Eric is dressed by Lardo in a lovely suit of silver and blue, one that makes him look as if he belongs as one of the stars in the night sky, with a silver mask that glitters. When he enters the room, it is filled with young men who give Eric their full attention when he enters the room.

Eric dances for nearly the entire night, and has his feet stepped on by nearly every man, some of them giving up before they are given the opportunity to do so. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Eric sees a tall young man watching him, wearing blue and gold, his being a light blue to contrast with Eric’s deep navy. His mask is pale blue as well, with swirls of darker shades throughout. His eyes are a clear blue and the air of the young prince is familiar, though Eric is fairly certain that he has never met him before.

When the mysterious Prince finally asks Eric to dance, they hardly speak. The mysterious prince twirls him around the dancefloor and Eric feels for the entirety of the song that they are the only people in the entire castle. 

When the song ends and their dance ends, Eric is left feeling inexplicably empty at their separation. Eric turns to where his parents are sitting and sees his mother smiling with her hand over her heart. Eric turns to ask the prince who he is and if he might like to dance with him again, only to find him gone. 

He returns to his mother, who thinks that this must be the young man who has captured Eric’s heart, and that he is here to tell her that he is, and that they will be married.

Eric sits beside her, and is clearly overcome by sadness, much to her dismay. “The ball is lovely, mother. Thank you.”

“You can have any man here that you wish. Have you found anyone who suits you?”

Eric smiles softly at his mother and shrugs. “I do not know. Everyone has been perfectly lovely to me.”

“And you have not found the man you wish to marry?”

Eric does not answer, because he knows that he cannot tell her the truth. He has found the man he wishes to marry, but that man lives in a modest cottage and has not been invited to the ball. It would be completely out of tradition for him to marry Jack. Even the mysterious Prince could not hope to steal his heart away from his one true love. 

_X_

When Jack hears news of the ball, he is overcome by unexpected grief. He had always known that Bitty might (probably would) someday marry someone else. However, that always seemed the farthest thing from the current date.

After this ball, after three days of dancing to which Jack is not invited, Bitty will choose his husband and consort. There is no denying it, so Jack does not bother trying to. He spends two days in grief, feigning illness to his parents to get out of working, before his mother reveals that she knows of his love affair with the prince, and that she knows that Bitty loves him, and that things will work out because they are in love.

With that message in his heart, Jack dedicates himself completely to crafting that perfect pair of skates. He knows Eric so well that he knows exactly how they should fit his feet, knows that these will be absolutely perfect, and that with their charms laid by Holster, he won’t even have to break them in first, all he simply has to do is put them on, and he will never need another pair of skates again in his life. 

These, surely, will not break or bend. And when Eric is married to another man far richer and greater in station than Jack, he will have these skates to remind Jack of his love for him. Even if Jack’s only fate is to be his behind closed doors, and never on his arm as he has dreamed of so many times. 

But Jack is a skate maker, and the possibility of the King and Queen approving of him to marry Bitty is slim to none. He will simply have to accept his fate.

The first day of the ball, Jack is sullen all throughout the morning and early afternoon. He even snaps at a few guests, to his own great shame. He apologizes directly after, of course, but all that he can think of is the fact that the love of his life is going to be dancing and charmed by other men all night long.

Just as the sun begins to fall over the horizon, Holster pulls Jack into the back room. His face is shining with mischief that makes Jack uneasy. He is too tired and downhearted for any sort of ruckus. Holster holds up a mask made of blue swirling fabric. “You’re going to the ball,” he states with a certainty that betrays the absurdity of his statement. 

Jack shakes his head and tries to exit the room, but Holster stands in his way. “I am not going to the ball, and I’d prefer if you did not joke about it. Only royals are allowed to attend.”

Holster shakes the mask in Jack’s face and his smile grows wider. “I know. This mask is enchanted so that none who see you will recognize you, and will see you as the prince you are in the eyes of Eric. Sadly, it works in such a way that Prince Eric will not recognize you either, but it will get you into the party, and into the circle of suitors vying for his hand. 

“If he doesn’t recognize me, how will I win his hand?”

Holster holds up one finger. “The first night, you must dance with him. Only one dance, and you will enter his heart and he will know you, even if he does not yet recognize who you are. The second night, you must talk to him as you would on any other day, but never reveal who you are lest the spell be broken. On the third night, you will bring him the pair of skates you have crafted for him, and at last he will know who you are, even with the mask on. Then, shall you have the hand of Prince Eric, as you already have his heart.”

“What? I can’t tell him who I am?”

“No, you shall surely be thrown out if you do. But on the third night, you will have his hand, and will at least be revealed.” Holster holds out the mask to Jack and puts it in his hands. “Trust me, Jack. You know I would never steer you wrong.”

When Jack puts on the mask, he is transformed into a suit made of the finest materials, in blue and gold that lights up his eyes in such a way that he is sure Bitty will appreciate. His heart aches to know that his love will not and cannot know him like this, but is heartened by Holster’s encouragement. 

Holster drops Jack at the castle in his wagon, apologizing for the shambles in which he must travel. “I have a friend who can turn a pumpkin into a carriage, but I haven’t quite gotten that down yet.”

The first night goes exactly as Holster said. Jack dances with Bitty, and though it is clear that the prince does not recognize Jack, they move together perfectly, as though made to, and Jack can see the admiration in Bitty’s eyes as though he were under a spell. 

After the dance, Jack hastens away from him when Bitty’s back is turned and leaves the castle in a sweat, longing to go back and take Bitty in his arms and kiss him and tell him who he is. Hut if what Holster said is true, then this pain will be worth it, for he will have the hand of Eric.

The second night of the ball, Jack’s mask is yellow and his suit is gray. Bitty is dressed in white and red, and he smiles when Jack comes up to him and asks him to dance. “Of course. But first, I absolutely must know your name.”

“Laurent,” Jack says after a moment’s pause. “I am sorry that I had to leave you last night, but I hope you will understand that I had to.”

“I was quite disappointed,” Eric flirts back, “you are a marvelous dancer. I have only known one who is as good a dancer as you but he is not here.”

“I am sad to hear that. I hope I will be an adequate substitute,” Jack says to a blushing Bitty. “Now, I heard you enjoy baking. Tell me about it, won’t you?”

Queen Suzanne watches as the mysterious young prince turns her son around the dancefloor for three songs, the two of them speaking the whole time. Surely, this is the man who Eric loves. If not him, she has no idea who it might be, as no other young man here has much as caught his eye. When they walk off together, perhaps to Eric’s gardens or the kitchens he loves so much, she is sure of it. This is him. It has to be.

It is odd, though, that Suzanne does not recognize him from any royal circles, but he seems so familiar nonetheless. 

The ball comes to a close and Eric returns to his mother’s side with a sad smile on his face, much like the one from the night before, but this time much more pained. “My son, whatever is the matter? I thought you had a lovely time tonight.”

“I am fine, Mother,” Eric says sharply, turning away from her. Suzanne places a hand on his shoulder and turns him back gently. When he does, there are tears shining in his eyes.

“Oh, Eric, what happened? Is the prince you spent the ball with not the man who stole your heart so long ago?” When Eric’s eyes go wide in response to that, she smiles and places a placating hand on his arm. “I have noticed that you seem to be in love, I only wish for your happiness and the strength of the kingdom, my dear.”

“I had a wonderful time with Prince Laurent, but my love was not here tonight,” Eric says softly, overcome by sadness that tugs at his heart when he thinks of how he has betrayed his Jack by feeling such affection for another man. “Now please excuse me, I am feeling quite ill.”

With that, Eric walks away from Suzanne stiffly, back straight to protect his pride, but clearly hurting. Suzanne aches for her son.

_X_

The morning of the third day, Eric’s stomach is filled with dread. Tonight, he must pick a husband in a man who is not Jack. Tonight, he will choose Laurent to marry, and will break the heart of Jack. 

He only hopes Jack will forgive him. 

The ball starts up that night, and Eric is dressed in white and gold. Men from all over present him with gifts of gold, perfumes, and cloth of the finest quality. It is all quite extravagant, but it can all be broken or rusted or ruined. 

Finally, Prince Laurent appears in front of Eric’s throne and Eric rises to meet him. He is dressed in black with the same blue mask from the first night. He really is quite handsome, and part of Eric seems to reach out to the other man. Laurent kisses his hand and presents Eric with a box. 

“Before you open it, I must ask something,” Laurent says, holding out a hand to stop Eric from taking the lid from the box.

“Of course, Prince Laurent.”

“Will you marry me? Say you will.”

Eric nods, and tears slip from his eyes. He turns to his mother, sitting beside him. She nods and smiles at him. “Yes, Laurent. We will love to have you in the family.”

“Thank you,” Laurent says with a gracious but nervous smile. He hands the box to Eric and nods at it. “Now you can see what is inside.”

Eric opens it and gasps when he sees laid inside of it, the most beautiful pair of skates he has ever seen. He lifts one of from the paper surrounding it and cradles it in his hands. The white leather is embroidered with flowers and swirls of gold, and when Eric touches the blade, it is sharp and glints with obvious magic. He knows these can only be the work of one man, and it makes his heart ache to know that these are to be the gift to take him away from Jack.

Eric does not take his eyes off of the skates until Laurent says, “I made them myself, handcrafted with magic inlaid so that they will never break and never grow dull.”

Eric looks up in surprise, and suddenly, as though magic were melting away, the man in front of him is Jack. Something inside of him clicks, as if he had known it all along, and only needed to open his eyes to see it. He places the skate back into the box and steps closer to Jack, lays his head on his chest, and sighs happily when Jack’s arms wrap around him. When he looks up at Jack, his eyes are full of tears, and Jack’s heart pulls. 

“My love, whatever is the matter?”

“I was going to marry Prince Laurent, and it hurt so greatly to have those feelings for another man. Jack, I love only you, have only ever loved you, and only ever will. I cannot marry another, and I will not.”

Jack presses his lips to Eric’s and whispers, “Then don’t. Marry me, Eric.”

“There is no way it will be allowed. You are not a prince, as much as you look it right now.”

Jack holds Eric’s hands close to his chest and asks his most selfish question, “Then leave this place, leave with me and we will have a house and a kitchen and a garden and I will love you forever.”

A hand comes to rest on Bitty’s shoulder, and both men turn around in surprise and horror to see Queen Suzanne standing there with tears shining in her eyes. “Eric, please don’t.”

Bitty steels himself and sets his jaw. “Mother, this is my love. It is Jack who I will have, and no one else. If that means losing my title and my inheritance, then so be it. We will leave tonight.”

Suzanne tightens her hand on Eric’s shoulder and for a moment is tempted to take him away from this man who wants to take his son from her. Then she sees the way that Prince Laurent-Jack the skate maker, actually-looks at Eric, not like he hung the moon, but like he is the moon and the stars and everything else in his world.

It is love. True love.

At that moment, Suzanne is overcome by a selfish urge: tradition and supposed needs of the kingdom be damned; all she wants is for her son to be happy. And if they are truly in love as she expects them to be, they will rule the country as great and fair rulers. Her son has suffered far too much from unhappiness to accept any less. 

_X_

Bitty and Jack are married on a fall day when the leaves are falling and the kingdom is filled with joy. Jack cries from sheer disbelief that this has happened, and Bitty wipes his tears from his cheek before they are presented for the first time as Prince and Prince Consort. “It is not becoming of a royal to cry. This is a happy occasion.”

And it was, as were the rest of their days sitting side by side on the throne of that kingdom. Even when they grew old and weak, they found joy in the fact that the other was by their side. Eric’s skates lasted through all of those years, though sometimes he came up with fake problems with them, for Jack’s amusement. They remained in love and faithful, never loving another, as they promised so many years ago.

One could say they lived happily ever after.


End file.
